“Information wants to be free.” According to Simon Dumenco with Advertising Age, this statement is a truism that is destroying traditional media models. He opines not only does information want to be free, technology itself – computers and software – also want to be free.
There is still a lot of discussion about the future of the media industry with many questioning its ability to survive. Simon correlates the media industry to the technology industry and cites his experience with the Eee PC, a mini laptop (netbook), to explain this correlation.
Last year, Simon wrote a column about his experience with the Eee PC, a Microsoft software-free mini-netbook, and predicted it would bring an end to Microsoft. The netbook was designed to run on free Web-based services such as Gmail, Google Docs, Facebook, etc., instead of Microsoft’s complex operating system and high-cost applications.
The Eee PC was a huge success selling approximately four million units and virtually every hardware maker has since adopted the netbook model. Simon argues companies should start bundling the hardware experience with a media experience saying,” hardware makers may have no choice but to turn their Internet devices into multi-tier-subscription-based media machines. And the more we get used to the idea of essentially subscribing to media as a way to pay for hardware . . . well, the more hope there is for media.”
An example of this would be if a hardware company required consumers to pay a monthly subscription fee for a tiered level of media access to Hulu Premium or the New York Times – in order to get a better deal on the netbook or computer.
Simon makes an interesting argument, and one that could prove to be a win-win solution for hardware makers, media and media content providers. As the media landscape continues to evolve, we’re already seeing publications evaluating alternative models to stay afloat. For example, many of them are implementing a subscription-based plan, switching to a niche format to reach a target audience or developing digital portfolios. Simon presents yet another model that may help the media industry survive.
While consumers may not be fond of the idea of paying for a monthly subscription to a magazine, newspaper or exclusive online content, they may be willing to pay for that subscription in order to get a better deal on a netbook or computer.
No matter what models media outlets consider, PR professionals will no doubt need to once again re-evaluate their strategies and approach to align with new media formats. As the media industry experiments with different models, opportunities will continue to shrink or become very niche focused.
We’d love to hear your perspective. How do you think these different models will impact your business or PR strategies? Will this force us to rely more heavily on other mediums such as social networks? Leave us a comment.